Robust direct hydrocarbon solid oxide fuel cells with exsolved anode nanocatalysts

Perovskite anodes with in situ exsolved nanocatalysts have been proven to overcome carbon deposition and increase anode catalytic activity as an alternative to conventional Ni/YSZ anodes for direct hydrocarbon solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). This study, for the first time, demonstrates the state-of-the-art exsolution over cathode-supported SOFCs, which achieve the highest cell performance compared to conventional electrolyte-supported SOFCs with perovskite anodes using CH4 as a fuel. The dendritic channel structure of cathode supports retains a high active surface during high-temperature electrolyte sintering. Sr2Ti0.8Co0.2FeO6-δ perovskite ceramic is employed as anodes, and Co-Fe alloy nanoparticles are exsolved after reduction, which increases the cell power output by about 40%. The peak power densities of the cells are 0.82, 0.59, 0.43, and 0.33 W cm-2 at 800 °C using hydrogen, methane, methanol, and ethanol, respectively. The SOFCs with the exsolved nanocatalysts demonstrate stable power generation up to 110 h using methane, methanol, and ethanol fuels. Interestingly, the perovskite anodes show high methane fuel utilization by the complete oxidation of methane, which is in contrast to the partial oxidation over Ni catalysts. Robust hydrocarbon SOFCs have been developed by coupling anode catalyst exsolution with dendritically channeled cathode supports.